Ambassador of the Dead:I rediscovered this book by Askold Melnyczuk on my “to read” list.Clearly, I need also to write down where I heard about a book, but I suspect it may have been from a New York Times book review years ago.The characters in this book are Ukrainian-American—can you sense a theme in my requests?Maybe what I really need is a trip back to Ukraine to get the country out of my system.If only I’d thought to ask for that for Christmas.

Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories: I am a huge L.M. Montgomery fan and a great lover of all things Anne.I didn’t ask for this book—because I had no idea it even existed—but I can hardly wait to read the Christmas-themed short stories.In the introduction, the editor mentions collecting a list of over 500 short stories published by Montgomery.Now that’s a collection that needs to be published.